Delta pilot charged with bringing gun to Atlanta airport

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By Rhonda Cook and Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A 32-year-old Delta Air Lines pilot was arrested after screeners allegedly found a loaded handgun in his carry-on luggage as he tried to pass through security at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, according to Atlanta police.

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Clayton County Sheriff’s Office Matthew Lamar McDaniel

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Matthew Lamar McDaniel of Atlanta was released on a $5,700 bond from the Clayton County Jail within hours after he was booked in on Saturday, according to jail records.

Delta spokeswoman Susan Chana Elliott said McDaniel was off duty at the time and said she did not know why he was at the airport. She said the pilot had been with Delta for three years and that his job status was unchanged while the airline conducted its own investigation.

"He can fly," she told the AJC.

McDaniel had a Taurus .38 special loaded with five rounds as he tried to pass through the T north security checkpoint, the police report said. It said the weapon was "not artfully concealed."

McDaniel, who had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, according to the report, told police he had "cleaned out his girlfriend's vehicle and forgot he placed [the] weapon in [his] bag."

He could not be reached for comment.

It is generally illegal to carry a loaded firearm into secured areas of the airport, Chana Elliott said.

She said many have been arrested for accidentally doing so. "This happens to lots of people," she said. "They forget to take their guns out of their cases."

There is one exception to the ban: Some pilots have enrolled in a federal program that allows them to carry a gun into the cockpit, Chana Elliott said. She said she did not know whether McDaniel was enrolled in that program and she said that even if she did know, she wouldn't be able to divulge such information "for security reasons."

Pilots who are in that program can only carry a gun into secured areas if they are on duty and if the weapon is stowed in a secured bag, airport spokesman John Kennedy said.

He said it is currently illegal to carry a concealed weapon in unsecured areas of the airport as well, though that could change soon.

A 2008 Georgia law allowed people permitted to carry concealed weapons to have guns on public transportation and in parks and restaurants. Gun advocates contended that the law applied to unsecured areas of airports, but airport general manager Ben DeCosta declared Hartsfield-Jackson a "gun-free" zone. The case went to federal court, and the gun advocates lost last year in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

This year, the Georgia General Assembly tackled the issue again, passing legislation that would allow gun permit holders to carry weapons in nonsecure areas of an airport.

Kennedy said Monday that as far as he knew, Gov. Sonny Perdue had not signed the bill.

"Currently, it's against the law: No guns are allowed at the airport," Kennedy said. He added one caveat: It is legal to check a gun onto a flight so long it is unloaded and in a special locked case.

The conceal carry issue has caught the attention of federal lawmakers.

A New Jersey senator has introduced a bill that would counter the legislation on Perdue's desk, the AJC reported last week.

Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg's proposal would make it illegal to carry a firearm into any nonfederally regulated area of an airport, including baggage claim and ticketing areas.